The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-11-17
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
EYES AND EARS.


see, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, where spent two weeks
on farm and among the farmers,
greatly encouraged my hopes in
Southern farming. The crops from
Georgia throughout Tennessee, Vir-
ginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey,
were fine-that is the corn crops. |
Wheat and oats had been harvested |
and reported good. and grass looked
luxuriant, meaning the grass pastures.
More anon about grass and stock. |
We hear much about Northern farm
ing and thorough cultivation, but l
saw no corn on the whole route
from Georgia to New Jersey better
cultivated than our crops are cultivat-
ed in Georgia. The culture seemed
the same, but as you proceed north
ward the thicker the corn was plant
ed; in some places it looked like
planted broadcast upon the ground.
but all looked fine. After leaving
Georgia you see nothing but grain,
grass and stock farms. and such
farms and farming look like living.
Grain. grass and stock in abundance.
/ saw no Jersey cattle after leaving
Georgia; all were of the large breeds.
and in Virginia the Durhams seem to
predominant; in Pennsylvania and
New Jersey, Shorthorns and Devons
intermixed l spent two weeks
in New Jersey, and never
saw better mixers and finer
butter made anywhere and in
great abundance. / asked why they
did not have Jerseys, and they said
they preferred the larger breeds of
cattle. for they were good for milk,
good for butter, made good work ami
mails, and good for beef; they were a
cattle for general use which they
found more profitable than the Jer-
seys Iagreed thoroughly with them,
and could but think that in Georgia
the Jersey craze would result in time
in over-running the State with pig
my breed of cattle fit only for butter.
My favorite cattle were always the
Devons, for. for general use, they
were unsurpassed and made the best
of all work animals. either in the
wagon or the plows, and would
keep in fine order even in or
binary pastures. The Vermonters
are great stock-raisers, and they pride
themselves on their fine Morgan horses
and Devon cattle. There it was I saw
the Devons in their greatest perfection
and beauty. and that is the cattle that
would do the Georgia farmers the most
good. But cotton farms will never
raise or have fine stock. Grain and
grass and fine stock go together; cot
ton and scrub cattle are one and insep-
arabic.
In Virginia / saw the largest num-
Der of cattle. The harvested fields of
wheat and oats were pastured with
large droves of cattle, mares and colts,
and in some places with sheep, and
there / also noticed the largest
clover fields. III Pennsylvania and
New Jersey they farmed more on the
truck order Irish potatoes and cab
bages and other vegetables and corn
and grass were their chief crops. In
all States where commerce and manu-
featuring were the principal pursuits.
the greater the demand for food crops,
and such in time will be the chief pur-
suits in the Piedmont range of North
Alabama and North Georgia, when
the farmers in those sections of coun.
try will raise chiefly food crops.
noticed also at the North that pro- ress
and prosperity were confined to the
towns and cities. like now doing in the
South; there the wealth of country
had concentrated. and the rural popu-
lation was struggling as best they
could. The farmers there, who were
dependent on farming for theil
support, were no better off than oul
Southern farmers; it was hard work
/ TO make both ends meet. So in look.
ing around, and closely observing
every thing. I came TO this conclusion,
that the farmers of the South, taking
into consideration the advantages O
climate and the greater variety O
crops we could produce. that we had
all the advantages ON our side, if we
would only use the energy and in
dustry that the Northern farmer:
used, and observe their systemati,
economy. They waste nothing; every
thing on the farm that can be utilized
is used to advantage, even in making
their manures and they never de al
we do, in depending on the merchants
to feed them and run their farms TO
them. The Northern farm
are self-supporting, so fa
as their food supplies are I. con
cerned. so what surplus they max,
is their own. be it small or large, ant
il the Southern farmers would adop
and pursue that course, and made only
ten to twenty bales of cotton clear
they would be entirely Independent
and live as comfortable and bountifu
as any class of men. No pursuit OF
earth. barring providential mishaps
| could fhnv ha mara tho orobitaot =,